Alone
by Kratos Aurion
Summary: Hector is a lonely bachelor living in a big city. He has no one to come home to. But one day, something out of ordinary happens. (Hector x Lyn, Short one-shot, AU)


**Alone**

* * *

Another day, same routine. It was a Friday, and Hector was heading home in a crowded subway, as usual. Eliwood was by his side, and the two talked and laughed about what had happened in work today. Apparently, today Hector has somehow managed to spill a cup of scalding coffee on his boss, nearly giving him third-degree burns, and almost got himself fired by his enraged employer. Hector grinned sheepishly while Eliwood teased him gently.

"Only you, Hector. Only you," he laughed, trying not to be swayed by the movement of the crowd within the packed compartment. "What on earth were you thinking, carelessly dropping things like that?"

"Absolutely nothing," Hector said with a grin. "When my hand slipped, my mind was unusually blank - aah!" The subway had stopped suddenly, and he was thrown onto the floor with a thud. Having grabbed a nearby pole just in time, Eliwood narrowly escaped his friend's fate.

"Are you all right, Hector!" asked the red-haired young man, extending Hector a hand as all the lights flickered out of life. Midst the curses, yelps, and whimpers of others around him, he took Eliwood's hand with a groan.

"Yeah, if you can call being bruised all over fine," he replied, wincing as he grabbed onto the same pole that Eliwood was leaning on. "Man...I think I broke my back. What about you, Eliwood? Are you hurt anywh..." He glanced back at his friend, only to find him talking on his cell phone.

"Hello? Ninian? No, no, everything's fine. Don't worry. The subway just stopped, and - no, really. Calm down, Ninian. It's all right, really. I'm just calling to say I'm going to be late. Uh-huh. Uh-huh." Between his uh-huhs, Eliwood mouthed _Sorry, Hector_. Hector just waved his apologies away good-naturedly, and his friend nodded and turned away, smiling as he talked to his wife. They had been married almost a year now, and were expecting a baby boy soon. Hector gazed into the cell phone's glowing screen, transfixed by its luminous light. But soon he forced his eyes to look elsewhere, feeling slightly jealous that Eliwood had someone waiting for him at home. Hector's parents had passed away when he was a child, and his brother, who was much older than him and was more like a father figure than a brother, a few months ago. He lived in a two-bedroom apartment alone, way up in the thirty-first floor; the top floor. He had grown up in the apartment with his family, but he sometimes considered moving away now because it was too big for only one person to live in it. It felt too empty.

Hector tried to look elsewhere, but everywhere he looked, there were white screens of cell phones glowing before his eyes.

"So don't worry, Ninian. I'll be there soon. Love you too-"

"Honey? Cancel the dinner. I won't be able to make it-"

"I'm going to be late for practice, Wil. So can you wait for me-"

"Don't cry, sweetie. Daddy has your teddy with him-"

"Dad?"

"Mom-"

"Louise?"

And before the sea of numbers Hector lost himself, his fingers brushing against the cold plastic lid of his cell phone in his pocket, the one he was going to use to call no one.

* * *

"That was really weird. I wonder what caused the power failure?" wondered Eliwood out loud as he stepped onto the wet streets with Hector.

"Probably the storm," he replied, gloomily looking up at the dark sky. _Great. Just what I need..._ A thunderclap sounded suddenly, and the drizzling rain began to drop faster.

Eliwood frowned and reached into his bag. "Nice weather," he commented sarcastically, taking out a pink umbrella. Hector raised an eyebrow inquiringly, and he turned to a shade to match his umbrella impressively.

"Oh, um, this is Ninian's," he explained, opening it up and placing it over his head as Hector took out his own. "I misplaced all mine, so she let me borrow hers."

"Uh-huh," grinned Hector, replying skeptically. "Right."

"No, really!" Eliwood insisted, and Hector felt another twinge of jealousy.

"Well, that's dandy and all-" _I can't believe I just used _dandy "-but I, er, need to by something over...there," Hector said, his index finger fumbling for the direction of the nearest drugstore.

"Really? But..." Eliwood said, looking disappointed. "I was going to ask you if you wanted to stay for dinner at my place"

"I'm fine," Hector interrupted, heading back toward the way they came, to the drugstore.

Eliwood hurried after him for a few steps, trying to persuade him otherwise. "Are you sure? Ninian's really good with vegetables. She doesn't like meat, so she found out a lot about how to cook vegetables in different ways" Which just made him more jealous.

"I'm fine," he repeated, more firmly.

Eliwood fell silent. He was concerned for his friend, but if he insisted... "All right, then. I'll see you tomorrow," he smiled, and headed toward the direction of his home. Hector waved endlessly from under his black umbrella, watching the dot of flame-red blend into the crowd and disappear.

* * *

_Maybe if I had a few flowers in my place it would feel less gloomy_, Hector thought, picking up a small pot of dainty yellow flowers off the dusty shelf. An employee of the shop looked up from her work and hurried to his side.

"Are you looking for flowers for your wife?" she said, peering at him expectantly as she popped her bubble gum.

"Wife? Uh...no," he said after a double take.

"For your girlfriend, then?" she said, bending down and examining a few roses before he could reply.

"Uh..." If he said no, then he would have to explain why he wanted those flowers, which he would feel stupid while doing so. "Yes," he said suddenly, as the girl was about to straighten up and ask him again.

"Well then," she said with a snap of her gum, "since it's Valentine's, you might want to go with some pink roses." She handed him a bouquet of twelve that she had just prepared, and he frowned reproachfully. _But I don't like pink..._

"Er, what if she doesn't like them?" he said disapprovingly, handing the flowers back. She scowled under her spiky green bangs, and shoved them back into his hand.

"Trust me," she said, putting her face unnervingly close to his. "She'll like them." Hector immediately made a mental note to never come back to this store again.

"All right, all right," he grumbled, heading for the cash register grudgingly. "How much?"

"Twenty-three ninety-nine for a dozen," she replied casually, pressing a few keys on the register. He did another double take. What a rip-off! But without a protest, he produced his wallet and handed her a twenty and a five. He didn't like this store, and he certainly did not like the strange girl with _spiky_ bangs. He was so intend on leaving the place that he did not hear her call, "Have a nice day!" behind his back.

"Well, it looks fresh and smells nice enough," he thought to himself out loud, outside again with the rain pouring harder than ever. With a sigh he opened up his black umbrella again, and trudged through the Amazon River forming on the streets. "Nice weather for Valentine's." He frowned at the murky puddles.

_They really need to do something about those storm drains_, he thought, wrinkling his nose at the putrid smell of the clogged-up street drains. _They're really starting to stink..._

At least there weren't as many people on the street. Otherwise, he would have felt real silly hunching his back against the wind as he walked, holding the bright pink roses in his hand. He felt awkward and self-conscious with them, but if they were going to help him brighten the mood of his place, then it was probably worth it. At a distance he saw his apartment complex building, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he could get some meal and a nice warm house to get out of the rain. But his ordeal was not over yet. As soon as he had relaxed his grip, a sudden gust snatched his umbrella away, and a wide-eyed Hector ran after it, more raindrops rushing onto his already-drenched coat.

_Blasted thing_, he cursed his twisted and bent umbrella, looking at it with distaste. What was wrong with his luck today?

After fifteen more minutes of swimming in the mini river in the streets, he finally reached his building, and punched in the password on the machine attached to the door. By then he was soaking inside and out, and not only was he annoyed and irritated, but he was also acutely aware that he really had no one to go home to, a disheartening concept that was brought on by the subway incident and the roses.

As he walked down the red-carpeted hall, he left a trail of water in his wake. He did not careor rather, he was too preoccupied with his own depressing thoughts to really give it a thought. Stopping in front of his door, he fit his key into the keyhole, turning it slowly. Placing his broken umbrella beside a light blue one against the wall as he stepped in, Hector looked around curiously at his bright apartment. That's strange. He must have forgotten to turn off the lights in the morning somehow...

Stepping into his kitchen he discovered that his table had been neatly arranged with plates and two glasses, and a single daisy resting inside his crystal vase (that used to belong to his mother) that he never used. A delicious aroma filled the air, and his mind quickly darted back to the blue umbrella. That wasn't his. Then who's was it?

"Hey, Hector," came a sheepish voice behind him, and two slender arms found themselves around his waist. Right away he knew who it was. "It was going to be a surprise, but looks like I was a bit too slow." He gently unclasped the arms and turned around, and found a girl with long, teal hair and sea-blue dress. A smile came to his lips.

"...Lyn." His own smile grew wider as she blushed.

"I thought you were going to come later, since the weather was so terrible," she replied briskly, showing him the undone pie inside the oven. "I got off work early, so I thought I'd come and do something for you. The pie was hard, so it took a long time to make. It's almost done, though."

"Why didn't you call or anything?" Happiness began to bubble within him as he looked into her laughing face.

"Silly, I said it was a surprise," she said. "Oh, yeah. And I also have meatloaf here; not my best, I'm afraid..."

"It's fine," he said suddenly, stepping toward her. She looked up at him, her beauty doubled, tripled in his immense delight. He handed her the roses, and a shy smile came to her lips. His own joy grew with hers. No more words were needed between the two. In comfortingsilence they listened to the thudding of the heavy raindrops, glad that they were warm and safe within his apartment. _They_, not _him_. Not alone. The dreadful thoughts about his loneliness were cast away from his mind, and instead, a blissful happiness filled its place.

Their eyes met, and she understood.


End file.
